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The Advocacy Lab

Movement Labs > The Advocacy Lab

We win crucial legislative battles and find grassroots groups their next 1,000 supporters.

The Advocacy Lab at Movement Labs drives progressive change at the local, state, and federal levels. We build power in marginalized communities by offering pro-bono text banking, training, strategic research, and other support to directly impacted grassroots groups that are advocating to reform the justice system, address the climate crisis, protect our democracy, and ensure everyone has what they need to thrive. Through peer-to-peer texting, we engage voters in actions, events, and advocacy to pass bold progressive laws and work to overturn egregious legislation — all while identifying supporters and building membership and grassroots power. Since its inception in the summer of 2021, the Advocacy Lab has had numerous wins, including:

Since launching in 2021,
we supported
70+ policies
for 157 partners
in nearly all 50 states.

We supported winning legislation including Non-Citizen Voting Rights in NYC, Good Cause Eviction in Albany, the Gender Recognition Act in New York, the end to the shackling of pregnant incarcerated people in Tennessee, and the extension of the Child Tax Credit.

We identified
874,815 supporters
and prompted
612,072 grassroots actions.

Of over 350 applicants, we accepted 34 organizations into our fellowship with over 70 fellows participating in training.

Our Grants & Fellowships

Grassroots Abortion Defense Fellowship

Abortion rights providers and advocates have been sounding the alarm for years. The draft Supreme Court opinion on overturning Roe v Wade is the last alarm bell. Now is the time to mobilize hundreds of thousands of choice supporters and build a movement strong enough to protect our rights.

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The Advocacy Lab Texting Fellowship

Our Fellowship supports grassroots organizations working to build power and drive progressive change in marginalized communities. We provide texting to identify and engage up to 5,000 new supporters; plus training, coaching, and expert consultation, so fellows leave with broader memberships, winning campaigns, and new strategic tools. Meet the 2021 Fellows!

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Grassroots Gun Reform Grant

There have been more mass shootings since the start of 2022 than there are days, and we need to take action. Through our Gun Reform Grant, grassroots organizations will connect with new gun reform activists, mobilize, and build long-term political power to protect innocent lives.

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Apply for our support

Any organizations who wish to apply for future grants or fellowships please fill out this form so we can notify you when we launch the next grants. We may also accept grantees on a rolling basis dependent on the urgency of the campaign.

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Some ways we’ve helped our partners

48,755
voting rights advocates identified

in 6 target states
for Black Voters Matter.

2,586
calls driven

to support the Gender Recognition Act
in New York state.
(It passed that week!)

98
hosts recruited

in target states
for the nationwide
John Lewis Day of Action.

10,017
supporters recruited

for 21 partner rallies on the National Day of Action for Abortion Justice.

75
community members recruited to testify

at a City Hall hearing in support of Commercial Rent Stabilization.

Identified & helped 136 people apply for
$204,000

undocumented excluded worker unemployment funding ($15,000 each).

585
citizen lobbyists

recruited in West Virginia to train and meet with their representatives to support the Fairness Act.

1,031
new members

recruited to join the Texas Center for Justice & Equity’s annual community meeting.

1/2
of all attendees

at the Child Tax Credit rallies were recruited through our texts.

Additional Partners

We prioritize organizations led by the people directly affected by the policies they’re trying to change, grassroots community groups participating in national coalition efforts, and those who don’t have the funding or capacity to run text banks themselves. In addition to the fellows and grantees supported through our above programs, we help organizations on an as-needed basis. Some of the additional organizations and campaigns we support:

Organizations

  • 1Hood Power
  • Black Voters Matter
  • Declaration for American Democracy
  • Freedom Agenda
  • HALTSolitary
  • Housing Justice For All
  • The LGBT Center
  • LOUD For Tomorrow
  • Main Street Alliance
  • Moms Rising
  • No Boundaries Coalition
  • New York Immigration Coalition
  • Parents Together Action
  • Public Citizen
  • Solar Rights Alliance
  • Stand UP Alaska
  • UltraViolet
  • United Women of Color

Campaigns

  • DC Statehood
  • NYC Non-Citizen Voting (it passed!)
  • Stop voter suppression bills
  • Stop anti-protest bills
  • Gender Recognition Act (it passed!)
  • Good Cause Eviction (it passed!)
  • Close Rikers Jail
  • End Solitary Confinement
  • Save California Solar
  • Education Justice
  • The For the People Act
  • The John Lewis Voting Rights Act
  • End the Filibuster
  • Child Tax Credit (it was extended!)
  • Reproductive Rights
  • Women’s Health Protection Act
  • Build Back Better Act
  • Paid Leave for All